Wheelchair sports now available at Cowra's PCYC

You can go rolling at the Cowra Police Community Youth Club every Wednesday for coaching sessions with renown Paralympian, Gerry Hewson.

The free sessions are from 4 - 6pm and open to everyone regardless of mobility.

Cowra's wheelchair basketball hub is an initiative of Wheelchair Sports NSW/ACT.

Chief Executive Officer with Wheelchair Sports NSW/ACT, Mick Garnett, said "we don't believe anyone should have to travel more than hour to play wheelchair sports".

"There are so many opportunities to play wheelchair sports in metropolitan areas and we want to make sure those same opportunities are available regionally.

"So the idea came about to create five regional hubs across the state for basketball coaching, and we received funding from the Department of Regional NSW to make this a reality."

Three hubs have been opened in Goulburn, Orange and now Cowra.

Two centres, Parkes and Port Macquarie are still in development.

"Our Cowra hub opened on Wednesday, November 1, with a great turn out of 10 for our opening session," Mr Garnett said.

"It's free to come along and play, you don't need any equipment of your own as we supply it all, so I would encourage people regardless of mobility, age or experience to come rolling with us .

"Cowra has gotten off to a fantastic start and we now want to build momentum because we are here for the long haul and will be around for as long as the Cowra community wants.

"If we find there are people travelling long distances there is even an opportunity to open more hubs.

"At the moment we are only offering wheelchair basketball coaching, but if there is interest in other wheelchair sports we are happy to look into the possibilities; we offer nine other sports - AFL, rugby, tennis, track and road, disability lawn bowls and para strength training.

"As skill levels and participant numbers increase there will be opportunities at some stage for the Cowra hub to compete in various basketball tournaments around NSW. "

Cowra's current coach is Gerry Hewson OAM, one of Australia's most recognisable Paralympians in the sport of Wheelchair Basketball.

"Gerry travels to Cowra weekly for the training sessions and its hoped over time someone locally will develop the skills to step-up into coaching." Mr Garnett said.

Hailing originally from Young, Gerry was injured in a motorcycle racing accident in Tamworth in1980. Becoming wheelchair bound, Gerry had a go at wheelchair basketball as part of his rehabilitation.

He said "It was crazy. Blokes flying up and down the court, smashing into each other, falling out and most of all having in fun". Gerry's career in basketball started a little later in life at the age of 24.

It wasn't long after he picked up a basketball, he was selected as a member of the Australian Men's National Wheelchair team in 1986 for the Stoke Mandeville International games. In that competition, the Rollers won Gold.

From his appointment in the National side, Gerry went on to compete at four Paralympic Games from 1988 to 2000 and the World Championships in 1990 Belgium, 1994 Canada and 1998 Sydney.

He won the first-ever senior men's Gold medal for Australia during the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia.

From there, Gerry continued to impress in the National Wheelchair Basketball League and was named as the Low Point MVP of the tournament in 2001. In 1999, 2000 and 2001, he was also named as part of the league's All-Star Five.

Following his playing days, Gerry changed his focus to coaching numerous national teams and in 2002 was named Assistant Coach of the Gliders, the Australian Women's National Wheelchair team who came in third at the 2002 Gold Cup.

Succeeding as Head Coach the following year, he coached the team to a Silver medal at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens and to the Bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.

During this time, Gerry also began his coaching career in the NWBL as Head Coach of the West Sydney Razorbacks from 2004 to 2006. During this time also guided the team to championships during the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

Gerry was also named as the head coach for the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League's Sydney Uni Wheelkings in 2011 and also served as the head coach of the Women's Under 25 National wheelchair basketball team during the same year.

At the inaugural Under 25 Women's World Championship in Canada in July of 2011, he successfully steered the team to a podium finish in second place.

Gerry's influence as a player, coach and promoter of Wheelchair Basketball was also nationally recognised in 2008 by the National Wheelchair Basketball League by naming him a life member of the league.

As one of Australia's most successful Wheelchair Basketball athletes and coaches, Gerry has been an avid supporter of the sport nationally and this saw him inducted into the 2019 Basketball New South Wales Hall of Fame Class.